Varietal Assessment of Forage Seed Production
Saskatchewan has a long history as one of Canada’s leading forage seed producers. Over the past 20 years, the sector has diversified across more than 40 forage and turf species, reflecting strong market demand and the adaptability of Saskatchewan seed growers.
Between 2005 and 2025, approximately 175 producers delivered seed from 44 forage and turf species to registered buyers. This seed is produced exclusively for planting — used in pasture blends, cover crops, reclamation projects, and turf applications — and not for oil extraction, feed processing, or other commodity uses. During that period, Saskatchewan producers marketed an estimated 63.5 million kilograms of grass seed — primarily timothy, tall fescue, wheatgrasses, bromegrasses and ryegrasses — along with 31.2 million kilograms of legume seed, mainly red clover. Grass seed production averaged approximately $5.28 million annually in farm-gate returns, compared with $3.61 million for legumes, underscoring the sector’s economic contribution to the province.
Saskatchewan is also home to a strong pedigreed seed industry. With roughly 470 pedigreed seed growers representing 16% of national membership and producing 27% of Canada’s pedigreed seed acres, the province maintains significant expertise in seed production and quality management.
To support continued growth — particularly within the South Saskatchewan Irrigation Development Area — the Varietal Assessment of Forage Seed Production project was undertaken to generate multi-year, Saskatchewan-specific seed yield benchmarks under both dryland and irrigated conditions at the University of Saskatchewan and irrigation research sites near Outlook, SK.
This project was supported by the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture through the Strategic Field Program. It was initiated under the Canadian Agricultural Partnership and completed under the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership, with collaboration from the Saskatchewan Forage Seed Development Commission and the University of Saskatchewan.
The contributions of technical staff at the Livestock and Forage Centre of Excellence (Clavet) and Irrigation Saskatchewan (Outlook), as well as industry collaborations and the Saskatchewan Forage Seed Development Commission, are gratefully acknowledged.
Aim: This project supports more informed production decisions by providing Saskatchewan-specific seed yield data to help estimate potential net returns. The objectives of this multi-year initiative were to:
Assess seed yield performance of forage seed crops commonly grown in Saskatchewan;
Evaluate forage seed production as a potential irrigated cash crop to support sector expansion;
Explore turfgrass varieties as diversification opportunities within the forage seed sector; and
Enable the Strategic Research Program Chair in Forage Breeding at the University of Saskatchewan to evaluate seed production of advanced breeding lines alongside current commercial varieties.
Methodology: Project collaborators established forage seed variety demonstration plots under both dryland and irrigated production systems.
The irrigated trial was initially planted on May 29, 2020, at the ICDC Knapik off-station location (Irrigation Crop Diversification Corporation) near Outlook, SK. The same entries — commercial varieties and advanced breeding lines — were planted on May 19, 2020, at the Livestock and Forage Centre of Excellence near Clavet, SK under dryland conditions.
Following poor establishment and operational constraints at the original irrigated site, the demonstration was re-seeded in 2022 with a refined selection of entries at a new irrigated location within the main research farm at Outlook.
Evaluations under irrigated conditions (planted in 2022) include:
hybrid bromegrass entries: AC Knowles (check) compared to two breeding lines - S9073Q & S9593
meadow bromegrass: Fleet (check) and newly registered variety CDC Torsion
perennial ryegrass: Dominator, Polim and a Common seed (turf type) entry
crested wheatgrass: Kirk (check), Fairway and S9598
hybrid wheatgrass: AC Saltlander (check) and S9615
intermediate wheatgrass: Chief (check), S9578 and UM2016Syn
tall fescue: Courtenay (check), Thor and S9582
timothy: Climax (check), Classic and newly registered variety CDC Tiznow
sainfoin: Melrose (check) and AC Mountain View and a Common seed entry
red clover: single-cut Altaswede (check), breeding line SL906RC (2), and a Common seed source of double-cut red clover.
Evaluations under dryland conditions (planted in 2020) include:
hybrid bromegrass entries AC Knowles(check), AC Success and three breeding lines - S9073Q, S9570 & S9593
meadow bromegrass: Fleet (check) and S9549
smooth bromegrass Carleton
hybrid wheatgrass: AC Saltlander (check) and S9615 & S9600
crested wheatgrass: Kirk (check) and S9598
intermediate wheatgrass: Chief (check) and S9578
northern wheatgrass Elbee, and western wheatgrass Walsh
tall fescue: Courtenay’ (check) and S9582
timothy: Climax (check) and ST1 (CDC Tiznow)
sainfoin: breeding line SF900 and Common seed
other: creeping red fescue Boreal, perennial ryegrass Replicator, festolulium Lofa, cicer milkvetch Oxley II and a Common seed source of galega
Results: Stand establishment was assessed in spring 2021 at the dryland site near Clavet and in spring 2023 at the irrigated site near Outlook. Seed yield data were collected for two production years at Clavet. A summary of findings is available in the Interim Report, which can be accessed below. The final report is available upon request.
Project photos from the dryland site were provided by collaborator Dr. Bill Biligetu, Associate Professor in the College of Agriculture and Bioresources at the University of Saskatchewan and Strategic Research Program Chair in Forage Crop Breeding.
